Sliding Mode Based Control for a Flexible Wind Turbine

Control of wind turbines has been the subject of intense research activity these last decades. Among the main pursued objectives, one finds the need to deal with the design of the controller with the flexibility of these installations that can be the cause of significant perturbations. Such advanced controller can enhance the performance of electric energy production from the wind, reduce fatigue loads and limit the cost. Using an analytical mechanical model that integrates flexibility of a wind turbine in terms of drive train torsion, tower flexure and blades out-of-plane flexure, a sliding mode controller was developed in this work. The control law was synthesized and stability of the controlled system was proven by using Lyapunov criterion.